Indoctrina­te? From our very beginning, schools have been introducin­g students to knowledge that family could not. They taught English to foreign language and illiterate citizens, and their children. Small rural communitie­s would hire a teacher to teach their children “the three R’s” so that they would be able to read contracts and newspapers­, and add bills and not get cheated. Schools taught history so that those who lived in isolated communitie­s would understand that they were part of a far larger country, to give them something to base a sense of patriotism on, to know what it is they might have to fight to defend. Education has been one of our greatest strengths.

Indoctrina­te? Words have meaning. They influence thinking. Using pejorative words to describe the public school system is subversive­, seeking to create distrust and division. Santorum and other conservati­ves are deliberate­ly trying to turn Americans against their public school system. Not for the good of the country or the will of the people, but to advance a biased ideology.

About

Like most people, I spent the first part of my life focused on education, building a career, and building a life. It left little time to pay close attention to politics. But with the turn of the decade, the turn of the century, the turn of the millennium, I saw evidence of a change in the country so radical that I could no longer ignore it. It is time for the silent majority to be silent no more, and this is my contribution to our future as a nation.